Covid: Life at a vaccination centre for booster roll out

A football club is being used as a vaccination centre

With centres across Wales being used to offer a booster jab to all eligible adults by the end of December, BBC Wales spent the day with staff at a site on Anglesey.

It's early in the morning and cold work for some of the Betsi Cadwaladr health board team as they prepare to transfer the vaccine from its storage in Bangor to a community pop-up centre.

It must be kept at a specific temperature and the responsibility to move the vials from the fridge to the cold transport bags falls on Alex Rooke-Dennis.

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"We have to make sure they're not out of the fridge for too long," she said.

"There's a lot of responsibility with the job because without these, there's no clinic and with everything that's been going on there are a lot of people who depend on these to have a normal life again."

The vaccines are being transported to Llangefni Football Club, one of the hundreds of centres used by the north Wales health board this year.

Nurse manager Non Smith (r) is in charge of has the job of keeping the process flowing at the centre

Staff from its vaccination team have been on site preparing since 08:00 - placing signs, laying out tables, chairs and plenty of hand sanitiser.

At 09:30, the centre opens and one of the first through the doors is Elfed Rowlands, from Benllech.

"It's important we take advantage of having the jab to protect everyone's health," he said.

"These things are really important - and important that we have the chance to come here and not have to travel to Bangor or Holyhead."

With concern over the spread of the Omicron variant, and the need to vaccinate as many of those eligible as possible, nurse manager Non Smith has the job of keeping the process smooth with a constant line of people moving through the centre.

She said: "We give about 480 in a day, it's a very busy clinic.

"I used to work with the school vaccination team so I'm used to having a lot of children around and this is quite similar.

"We work out what routine will work throughout the day, and then the team is really good and just get on with it."

Eleri Fôn Roberts said she was glad to be back working for the NHS

She added: "I feel so privileged to be part of something that's so huge in our lives at the moment.

"It's a lot of work - more than I've ever done before and yet you reap what you sow and we'll hopefully get society back to normal as soon as possible."

More than 500 staff work within Betsi Cadwaladr's vaccination team. Some have retrained and others are newly recruited.

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Throughout the day there's a steady stream of people arriving and leaving.

Llinos Morris, who used to work with the Royal Mail's customer service team before joining the NHS at the beginning of the pandemic, keeps a check on the vaccine store and the detailed paperwork.

"There's a system of who gets which vial, how many come back and we have to keep track of the paperwork, the temperature of the fridge and how many vials are left," she said.

In one day, 480 jabs were given out at the centre

"It's a big responsibility but something that has to be done - and it's important that it's done correctly."

Eleri Fôn Roberts retired as a children's leukaemia nurse four years ago before rejoining the NHS in October.

"Last year when all this happened, and my partner and I split up, I found it very difficult to be by myself and I didn't want to face another winter on my own, even though I've got family living locally," she said.

"I love the job and I'm so glad I came back. I see so many people and you get a lot of stories. I know we're supposed to do the work quickly, but sometimes when you get the elderly here, they just want a bit of a chat."

As evening and the end of the shift approaches, the team ensure not too many vials are open at the same time so there are no half-filled bottles left over at the end and wasted.

Just before 19:00, the last of the 480 jabs has been given and the remaining full vials are transported back to the main storage in Bangor as the staff in Llangefni prepare to do it all again the next morning.